2015 

021076 



iv 




* >o ,*v"> 

*; %■/ ’ 
*• '°wm : /\ •, 

A> .>-. ( \'“''‘ 0 ^ ( ...,\'' 




* "i ’ * A® °<|> * • « 

.CT ,*'•'* *> 



o> 4*4 v 



A ^ : 

* '■£> « 

-i <o. v «» 

* < 0 ^ V «vrr.* a 

qV ^ o » » ^ ^ 

0 • c ir^t o -1 ^ * 

* 


• *S ^ - 4 4J 
<r 'o , k * . 0 

^ ^ r>^ .0" 

N .♦ g?/t/feu . *3^v * 

• 

<L^ O * 

^ *«#»’ / * 

V !> ’ * °* C\ 

• +*■ & •>§ i/hr \ 

; v-s? . A\va&/>%.o u> 




* # 4 


* •€? 

* ^- v ^ •» 








\0 * 7 % 

> _ •> *k£+ + 

_ * A ut. + 

O —^ ** Q' ^ o 

vi* * 1 1 

- C\ *9 • <> 

- ^ A >0> v jM0V * 

: % f .' 

*° ^ v \, \¥w; a>->. 

* A 

A* . v « • „ ^ o *• * „ ^ 

^ ,CW. * c° .* “- - 


\""’/.lilt ^ 

; \/ A\ %/ .* 

|£ ♦ A/ ^ ^ v \j^* -C,- * 

^ - 7 • ^ 


\ 0 */V 

V v *sK 0 



,4.^ i • A! * ^ ,.cr 0 0 * • * 'o 

4 ♦Wfe.* v, C o 

* &mT^T/fi “ V* o> 0 

ri* #' , "'V^»'* <ir o 

*®«0° ^ 


°^ *m* A. 0 V *M0 

f “°' ^ a 0 ,«r*% ^ 

*. ^ ^ 4 

- ^ r ‘ K; 

* f//y^^v\\V * 4.4 vP 

* V' A?> •; 





* ’ 5 

: ^ 0 / ** 


* *> 


; ^° •%. *. 

v' v .":% "’ >°....A- 

* ^ iX^ ^ 

a* A a -SK*- /\ *Jm* . 



“ 4* V ^ 











c> ^, ., • ,Cr <K '*4, -- , 

o ,<y *• * * - / ' v 

; ^ $* o 

; j>\ \ 

■ vr,, ;V A 

• f 5 A > 





o 0 % V 

^ • * ’ *° V. 

«,■.«*. ^ .v> ^. 


<-S 

/ ^ ^ 



w 




-/ *\^%V°’V^-X^'V*.-. V**‘‘V 6 * 


• r oV' •'fii^o’* >* 0 « 

n . - €BS rrsSr - . • i 

jP'V 

°* ‘ -- • ,o° 

.0 

■ ^ 'Wa' 0 a* .'£2K5f- ^ & , 

v*‘ rmwfai • '-^ l,^k^!, •*• A 



t 

<1 c 


« «5 <3. 'tf 

5 > 


<S> * t» M o 9 ^ 

t ^*1% ^ ^ f » * O, 

^ «, ►-«.-£ . 

r$* A v ’ 

: W 




- <-S «p 

4* 4$ X, "yHX^ * ^ 

a.' *<U '°“‘ J>° A 

»V , l « . <£ . nV C " • ^*_ Ok/" 

i* q •tv t y^x-» *. *P .* v c. * O «vy 

* ^ <N ♦ &r(l???o sr 0 • .^^Ty ' o JV * 

. -bv* :£mtnZ- +»$ i^SmtiSr. *6? 

• 


O. ,0' <?>’ cO’ ^ * 


^ • 

— «* _ * «• • 

. • ** A <. 'O , » 

. 4 > ..... V 

.<r %> 

o ^ '.Om&tfo * * r * o’ 




V * 

& <o * - 1 

W • 

* ■£/ • 

•‘ *o* V^’ V s 

\A. O - y ^ tD ^ 



; • 


-..o’ a, 







* 

.0' « 
S' » * i 

O 4 *** . ^ ii* <L* O * 

^ • ' 1 A 0 4^ •"° <V °^t * 

^ V + (O St m *£> -X*' . ‘wjN^Kfel* ^ V * * °+ 

^ <i5^ '^j. ^ 

' • * * * /V ^ . ^O , » * .(>' ** ■ -^ g * /\ 

*0^ 6 0 **4 o jA , v • • „ '£> rft 0 * • . 

i o t ?i^^*. •’bv 4 :£M&, **. ;2 

.- v- ^ .^ s °'<* ^ ^ -* ! , 

^ *•■*’** ^9° ^ '*•.»•' ^ ‘*».*•’* A°° 

• % > *jSfe'- ^ ^ *>Va'» ^ ^ ^ '• ^ 

> vi\y , * AV ° .<: 






«, nP 

r *T^ V\ <■ -o' 4 .,- ,0’ O f A 

1 v « r 0 < -cWv^ # O .1 

’ ^ ^ 




O m i *^st r*-i t >_ v. • c 

A o v ,°^ 

0 ^ .... %*'** , \y . % ‘‘ 

a:- 5 . ^ V * T • «* c* 

E / /£$(£'< % 

; 4 . v ^ °5w!* ^ ^ 


• «5 °^, jP-n#. : . 

. ^ o **2aIr*S s> *^v % 

1 ^ V **<’* ^° ... e.. '••»’ *♦ 







FROM 


THE HON. JAMES ALFRED PEARCE, 

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MARYLAND, ON 

THE POLITICS OF THE DAY. 


LETTER 

\ FROM 

\ THE HON. THOMAS G. PRATT, 

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MARYLAND, 

TO THE WHIGS OF THAT STATE. 


SPEECH 

OF THE 

HON. ISAAC D. JONES, 

Delivered in response to the call of a Democratic Procession at Princess Anne, Somerset county, Md., 

on the evening of Tuesday, July 15, 1856. 


SPEECH 

OF THE 

HON. JOHN W, CRISFIELD, 

Delivered at Princess Anne, Somerset county, Md., on Tuesday evening, July 15, 1856, responding to 

the call of a Democratic Procession. 


WASHINGTON CITY, D. C. 

1856 , 







LETTER OF HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 


Washington, July 31, 1§5G. 

My Dear Sir : You ask what part 1 mean 
to take in the coming, Presidential election, and 
what I think should be done by old Whigs who 
have never been attached to any other party, 
and who do not desire to enter Into new politi¬ 
cal connexions. 

I am well aware of the embarrassments to 
such persons which attend a choice among the 
candidates for the Presidency now before the 


sadest calamity that lias ever befel our Union. 
The comparatively small portion of the Ameri¬ 
can party which remained after this transfer to 
the anti-slavery 'men, and which has nominated 
Mr. Fillmore, is without power to elect him 
even with the assistance of Southern Whigs o 
National Northern Whigs. These, howevei 
great their personal respect for and confident 
in Mr. Fillmore, are under no party obligation' 
now to give him their support, seeing that he 
has become a member and accepted the nomi¬ 
nation of a party which repudiates the Whigs; 


country. In my own case this embarrassment land, while they would be willing in a contest 


is sensibly felt. My inclinations point one way, 
a sense of the duty arising from the present 
dangerous condition of domestic politics leads 
me another way.' . 

My past relations, political and personal, with 
Mr. Fillmore, the confidence I have always re¬ 
posed in his integrity and ability, the wisdom 
of his Administration, aud the conviction I en¬ 
tertain that he is a just national man and free 
from sectional prejudice, would induce me to 
prefer him to his competitors. Neither do I ob- 


witti their old opponents to stand by all then- 
political opinions to the last, they find ampl 
reason in the present condition of parties, in tl 
political anarchy which prevails, and in t' 
fear of a sectional and anti-slavery triurnj 
leading to ulterior consequences of the woi 
sort, to consider whether it is not their duty to 
sacrifice all personal feeling and party prejudice, 
for the sake of the Union, and to sustain the 
nominations of the Democrats as the only means 
of defeating the schemes of the mad agitators 


ject to the sentiment of American nationality,) who rule the Republican parly, 
properly limited and restrained. Indeed I think The contest it seems to me, lies between Mr. 
that our present system has made American I Buchanan and Mr. Fremont. Mr. Fillmore’s: 
citizenship too cheap. But I did not approve I friends indeed claim a great reaction in his favor; 
the mysterious system under which the Ameri-jbut I have taken much pains to ascertain what 
can party, of which he is now the representa-jhis strength is in the free states, and so far I 
tive, was organized; the oaths administered tojhave not been able to satisfy-myself that he can 
members on initiation, and the discipline of thejearry a single one" of them. His wise and pa- 


order, by which secrecy and obedience was se¬ 
cured. How far all this has been dispensed 
with I do not know. The original plan of their 
organization I could not but condemn, as I do 
the adoption of any principle which founds a 
a rule of political exclusion upon a diversity of 


triotic conduct while President, which recom¬ 
mended him so strongly to the Whigs of the 
South, is regarded by the n ajority at the North 
as a fatal objection to him. It is not modera¬ 
tion and conciliation they desire ; they think as 
one of their leaders said, that the time for corn- 


religious faith. However modified in these re-j promise has passed. They want, in the Presi- 
spects their plan may now be, it-is not necessary |dent, an instrument to punish the South for 


tor me to inquire. The Northern wing of the 
party came into it, as I think with purposes 
very different from; those entertained by tfie rest. 
They adopted it as a cloak to schemes which all 
of us in Maryland condemn and detest. The 
necessary affiliations of that wing of the party 
were with the anti-slavery men; and according¬ 
ly we find the mask now thrown off by the 
most of them, and see the development of their 
plans in such a measure as the personal lib¬ 
erty bill of Massachusetts, which nullifies a law 
of Congress, violates the constitutional guaran¬ 
tee for the recovery of fugitive slaves, and cre¬ 
ates the fiercest and most dangerous discord be¬ 
tween the North and the South. Their mem¬ 
bers of Congress have for the most part been 
consolidated with the pernicious party miscalled 
Republican, and many of their delegates to their 
Presidential Convention have deserted to that 
motly alliance, whose triumph would be the 


what they fancy or pretend to be the aggressions 
of the slave power ” upon the North. Mr. 
Fillmore is too national for this,purpose, and he 
must indeed be credulous or' fea.jguine in the 
extreme who supposes that the politicians who 
have misguided and inflamed the Northern ma¬ 
jority will abandon their designs, and renounce 
the spoils for which they hunger and thirst, just 
at the moment when, for the first time, they are 
confident of the success of the one and the en¬ 
joyment of the other. Mr. Fillmore’s strength 
lies in the Whig States of the South. If all 
the Southern States should give him their votes, 
he would fail in the election without such assis¬ 
tance from the free States as it would be vain 
to look for. The choice, then, is between Mr. 
Buchanan and Mr. Fremont, and what Maryland 
Whig believing as I do can hesitate? 

I am not so unjust as to charge all the North¬ 
ern men who join in the support of Mr. Fre- 









3 


mont with being abolitionists. There are men 
among them whom I hold in much respect, 
while deploring the error of judgment into 
which they have fallen ; but the most active 
and influential of their leaders are men who, 
from perverted judgment or inflamed passion, or, 
what is worse, from deliberate calculation, have 
determined to build up a sectional party, wreck* 
less of its peril to the Union, once so justly 
valued, but now estimated far less at the North 
than at the South. Mr. Greeley is at this mo¬ 
ment more potential with his party than any 
other of its members. He has the benefit of 
Mr. Giddings, co-operation. Governor Chase, 
Mr. Seward, and Mr. Wilson are active and in¬ 
fluential leaders. Their presses teem with the 
[fiercest abuse of Southern men and Southern 


and hatred inseperable from party “ character¬ 
ized by geographical discriminations." It was 
against this that the Father of his Country 
warned us in his farewell address—the last legacy 
of the spotless patriot to the country he had 
loved and served so well. 

Some years ago (in 1830,) when the danger 
of this sectional organization was less than it is 
now, Mr, Clay gave us his advice in the follow¬ 
ing words: 

u Abolitionism should no longer be regarded as an 
imaginary danger. The Abolitionists, let me sup¬ 
pose, succeed in their present aim of uniting the in¬ 
habitants of the free States as one man against the in¬ 
habitants of the slave States. Union on the one side 
icill beget union on the other, and this process of re¬ 
ciprocal consolidation will be attended with all the 
violent prejudices, embittered passions, and implaca- 



some do not hesitate to say that they intend or 
desire not only to restore Kansas to the opera¬ 
tion of the Missouri restriction, but to repeal 
the fugitive slave bill, to abolish slavery in the 
District of .Columbia, to interdict the inter¬ 
state slave trade, so as to prevent the owner 
from migrating with his domestics from one 
slave State to another, to prevent forever here¬ 
after the admission of any new State which 
tolerates domestic servitude, and to hem in and 
confine slavery within its present limits; thus 
continually increasing the political power of 
their section, until we shall be too weak to resist 
their future efforts to impair the value of our 
peculiar property, and, finally to destroy it.— 
We do not indeed find all these objects laid 
down in the platform of their party ; and there 
are men associated with them whose designs by 
no means extend so far, and wiio, if they knew 
the probable consequences of their success, 


ing and hostile array against the other. The collision 
of opinion will soon be followed by the clash of arms. 

1 will not attempt to describe scenes which now hap¬ 
pily lie concealed from our view. Abolitionists 
themselves would shrink back in dismay and honor 
at the contemplation of desolated fields, conflagrated 
cities, murdered inhabitants, and the overthrow of 
the fairest fabric of human government that ever 
rose to animate the hopes of civilized man.” 

It will be said perhaps that this is mere de¬ 
clamation ; that Mr. Clay’s fervid spirit gave too 
warm a coloring to the picture ; but we need 
only remark the passionate violence which char¬ 
acterizes men who have lately yielded to this 
sectional phrensy to satisfy ourselves what is 
the temper natural to such an organization. At 
the Convention in Philadelphia, held by those 
who nominated Mr. Fremont, a conspicuous 
and distinguished gentleman heretofore consider¬ 
ed moderate and conservative, made a speech, 
in which, amidst cheers and cries of “ good,” he 


would recoil from the evil associations into which ispoke as follows : 
they have fallen. But, then, more moderate „ Th (meaning th „ se who appointed the mem- 
men are not the master spirits in this league of bers of the Convention,) ask us to give them a 
agitation, and will be powerless to stop the nomination, which, when put fairly before the peo- 
mischievous measures which I think certain to P>>. will unite public sentiment, and,_ through the 


follow the success of the combinations which 
they are now aiding. The tone of the press in 
their interest, the speeches of many members of 
of the amateur orators of 


the ballot-box, will restrain and repel this pro-slave¬ 
ry extension and this aggression of the slaveocracy. 
What else are they doing ? They tell you they are 
willing to abide by the ballot box and willing to 


Congress and of the amateur orators of the!make that the last appeal. If we fail there, what 

tn nnlfo then ? We will drive it back sword in hand, and so 
party, all clearlj evince a determination to unite me God Pm with them p. 

all the people of the free States, if possible, in 


fierce and relentless hostility to those of the 
South. It is in the strife of sections in which 
they hope to succeed ; and in what would their 
success result ? Not in forming a more perfect 
union, not in establishing justice or insuring do¬ 
mestic tranquility, all of which are among the 


declared objects 
Washington and 


the othei Fathers of the Re¬ 


public gave to us; but in the jealousies, discord, Sharpe’s rifles as the most efficacious instrument 


It is true that the author of these remarks has 
since publicly avowed that he alone is responsi¬ 
ble for this rhapsody. But it cannot be doubted 
that the feeling which prompted him was the 
same which animated the preacher who proposed 
to supply the brethren in Kansas with bread and 


of that Constitution which powder too, and which has stimulated other 


preachers and their congregations to subscribe 









4 


in the adjustment of the controversies in that 
Territory, which all good men deplore, however 
they may differ as to the causes of the unhappy 
anarchy which prevails there. For myself I ac¬ 
knowledge my duty to redress, so far as I can, 
all the real grievances complained of in that re¬ 
gion ; and I have supposed that the bill recently 
passed by the Senate was calculated to remedy 
them, because it proposes to enact that no law 
shall be made or have force or effect in said Ter¬ 
ritory which shall require a test oath, or oath to 
support any act of Congress or other legislative 
act, as a qualification for any civil office or pub¬ 
lic trust, or for any employment or profession, 
or to serve as a juror or vote at an election, or 
which shall impose any tax upon or condition 
to the exercise of the right of suffrage by any 
qualified voter, or which shall restrain or pro¬ 
hibit the free discussion of any law or subject of 
legislation in the said Territory, or the free ex¬ 
pression of opinion thereon by the people of said 
Territory ; and secures, as far as law can secure, 
the operation of the public will in the formation 
of a State government. That this bill was sin¬ 
cerely meant to effect its avowed purpose I am 
quite confident; and I believe that there are 
conservative men at the North, who do not yield 
to prejudice or passion, who will credit this as- 


Some of the leaders go further still, and con¬ 
sider slavery as a wrong so transcendant that it 
must not only be limited to its present bounds, 
but must be abolished altogether. We see the 
effects of this in the increasing restiveness of a 
part of our population, in the often repeated es¬ 
capes of our servants from the mildes : : form of 
servitude ever known, and in the ready accept¬ 
ance of the recommendation not to hesitate at 
theft, robbery, and murder, if need be, to accom¬ 
plish their flight. From this condition of things 
we can expect no relief if the anti-slavery party 
succeed in the election of Mr. Fremont. To de¬ 
feat their nomination seems to me to be our first 
duty and greatest interest, and therefore I am 
ready to adopt that candidate who appears most 
likely to accomplish this purpose. I add as 
showing the extreme designs of the anti-slavery 
zealots the following remarks, reported as hav¬ 
ing been made lately by Mr. Wendell Phillips. 
Speaking of the Republican party, he says : 

“ It is the first sectional party ever organized in 
this country. It does not know its own face. It 
calls itself national; but it is not national; it is sec¬ 
tional. It is the North arrayed against the South. 
Henry Wilson said to me, 'We must get every 
Northern State in order to elect Fremont 1’ It was 
a distinct recognition of the fact that the Republican 
party is a party of the North pledged against the 
South. Theodore Parker wanted to know once 


sertion. Unfortunately they are not the maior- ; .. . . „ T ".ir; t 

A , ,, , . r, ** J , r ,, r 0 , J , where disunion would begin l 1 will tell him— just 

ity. At all events, in the most of the free States L here that party decides f that is , a Northern party 


the masses of the Republican party are led by 
men who do not mean to be satisfied with any 
legislation which is not to result in placing the 
Government under their control; by men who 
say that the framers of the Constitution “ made 
a compromise that cannot be mentioned, without 
shame ;” who say of Mr. Fillmore, in allusipn to 
his signing the fugitive slave bill, “better far 
had he never been born—better for his memory, 
and for the name of his children, had ‘bp never 


against the Southern. I do not call it an anti¬ 
slavery party ; it has not risen to that yet. It first 
distinct recognition was Banks’ election.” 

I have no idea that this is to be considered as 
showing the general purpose of the Republican 
party, but I am well satisfied that such opinions 
are growing in the North, under the constant 
teachings of such apostles as Mr. Phillips, and 
this speech shows the tendency of present events. 
I have been politically opposed to the Demo- 


nounce the fugitive slave to be “one of the he¬ 
roes of the age,” and the master who demands 
him a “ vile slave-hunter,” whom all men shbuld 
look upon with contempt, indignation, and ab¬ 
horrence ; men who do not regard the Constitu¬ 
tion, and the laws made in pursuance of it, as 
the supreme law of the land; who disregard the 
decisions of that high tribunal whose office it is 
to decide the constitutional questions; who 
claim to set up their individual opinions against 
the official ones of the judicial authorities, and 
refer their obligations, not to the instrument 
which they have sworn to support, which is at 
once the bond and the principle of our Union, 
but to some “ higher law,” whose foundations are 
to be found in their own fanatical imaginations. 


been President;” who declare that bill to be oratic party for so many years that I cannot 
‘ one of the immortal catalogues of national without reluctance contemplate the necessity of 
crimes,” and that he who signed it thereby supporting their nominee. Yet it must be ad- 
“ sunk into the depths of infamy;” who pro- mitted that he is a man of abilities and large 

public experience ; that he has been just to the 
South, though not assuming to be a Northern 
man with Southern principles ; that his inclina¬ 
tions are generally conservative; that he num¬ 
bers among his prominent supporters many gen¬ 
tlemen of talents and patriotic character entitled 
not only to the confidence of their party, but to 
influence with the country at large; and that 
many of the old issues between the Whigs and 
the Democrats are obsolete. Two objections to 
him are much relied on by his opponents in the 
South. It has been alleged that he counte¬ 
nanced and promulgated the charge of bargain 
and corruption against Mr. Clay in the election 
by the House of Representatives in 1825. I 
should denounce him for this as readily and as 






5 


severely as any one if I thought this allegation 
just. But I remember that this charge against 
Mr. Clay was made without any direct testimo¬ 
ny until 1827, when the Carter Beverly letter 
led to Mr. Buchanan’s being named as a witness; 
and that he then promptly denied the statement 
which he was relied on to prove, and, at the 
risk of loosing Gen. Jackson’s favor and that of 
his party, exonerated Mr. Clay. From the let¬ 
ter which he then published I extract the fol¬ 
lowing passage: 


The next great object is that Mr. Buchanan 
would be unsafe in his management of foreign 
affairs. I readily admit that I do not like the 
Ostend paper, and I do not approve certain res- 
“ I owe it to my own character to make another^ oluti Ons adopted by the Cincinnati Convention, 

thatGen? JaclSon bellied I'h'ad beenTent To hfm 'Withstanding ‘he "nanimous opposition of the 


and bravely he had borne it. Thank God, it died 
before his father 1 and now he was proud to say that 
there lived not the man who would whisper it. But 
Mr. Buchanan was free from all connexion with the 
matter. 

“Mr. Clav concluded with an eloquent appeal to 
his fellow citizens, especiall Old-Line Whigs, to give 
their cordial support to the Union ticket—to Bu¬ 
chanan and Breckinridge.” 


by Mr. Clav or his friends, I should have immediate¬ 
ly corrected his erroneous impression, and thus pre¬ 
vented the necessity for this most unpleasant ex¬ 
planation. When the editor of the United States 
Telegraph, on the 12th of October last, asked me by 
letter for information upon this subject, I promptly 


Virginia and Maryland delegates, and I believe 
of others; and if he should adopt the aggressive 
policy supposed to be prescribed by that paper 
and the resolutions, I should be as ready and as 
earnest in my opposition to him as any one. 


informed him by the returning mail, on the 19th of j But he is a man of known caution, which, with 


that month, that I had no authority from Mr. Clay or 
his friends to propose any terms to General Jackson 
in relation to their votes, nor did I ever make any 
such propositions; and that I trusted I would be as 
incapable of becoming a messenger upon such an oc¬ 
casion as it was known Gen. Jackson would be to 
receive such a message. I have deemed it necessary 
to make this statement in order to remove anv mis¬ 
conception which may have been occasioned by the 
publication in the Telegraph of my letter to the 
editor, dated the 11th ultimo,” 

Again, in 1828, in a speech delivered in the 
House of Representatives, Mr. Buchanan de¬ 
clared that he had no knowledge of the bargain 
and corruption charged on Mr. Clay. These 
disavowals may be considered as merely cold 
justice to the great and incorruptible Whig 
leader, but surely they contradict most flatly the 
charge of being his “traducer and defamer.” If 
further proof were needed it may be found in 
the following remarks recently made in Ken¬ 
tucky by Mr. Jas. B. Clay, his son: 

“ Mr. Clay then proceeded to urge upon his old 
Whig friends, the companions and constituents of 
his father, to rally around that banner which he had 
spent his life in upholding —the banner of the Union. 

He was ready to follow the Whig standard as the-official letter of acceptance, while not expressly re- 
Douglass followed the heart of Bruce—as long as itlpudiating the extreme and exceptionable doctrines 
waived. But that flag was no longer to be seen onlfoisted into the Democratic confessions of faith by 
the battle-field. It might yet be unfurled. After 
death there was the resurrection. But at present 
there was no Whig organization, and the only party 
of the Union was that of which Buchanan and 
Breckinridge were the candidates. 


his intelligent comprehension of the true in¬ 
terests of the United States, and the responsi¬ 
bility of the Presidential office, which he could 
not but recognise, would forbid his urging the 
country upon a course of aggression inconsistent 
with the spirit of our Government, faithless to 
treaties, violative of the rights of other nations, 
and destructive of our own peace, honor, and 
concord. I know that many of the leading men 
of his own party are sound and reliable in this 
respect; and I believe Jthat there conservative in¬ 
fluence would hanPonize with his own disposi¬ 
tion. I am the more assured of this because I 
observe that in his letter of acceptance there is 
no recognition of the resolutions, (which were 
not considered by the Convention as forming a 
part of the platform.) but, on the contrary, a 
prudent and conservative tone, which met with 
the approbation of even the judicious and ex¬ 
perienced Editors of the National Intelligencer— 
themselves par excellence, the foes of all filibus¬ 
tering. -In an additional article noticing Mr. 
Buchanan’s letter of acceptance, they said : 

We may say, however, that Mr. Buchanan’s 


the Cincinnati Convention, does not, by its spirit 
and tenor, incline us to hope that he means if 
elected, so to construe those doctrines as to disarm 
them of their mischievous significance and evil ten¬ 
dency. Indeed we can give ho other meaning than 
“Mr. Clay referred to the attempt to implicate this to Mr. Buchanans declaration when he says 
Mr. Buchanan in the charge of bargain and corrup- that he accepts the ‘resolutions constituting the 
tion. On that subject he proposed to take the testi-j Platform of the principles erected by the Cojven- 
mony of his own father, and he read from Mr. Clay’s tion in the same spirit as that which prompts his 


letter to show that Mr. Buchanan had conducted 
himself in that affair as a man of truth and honor. 
He should believe what his father said before others. 
Besides the evidence he had read, there was other 
testimony bearing on the same point. In feeling 
and eloquent terms he referred to the heavy weight 
of that charge against his father, and how gallantly 


acceptance of the nomination tendered to him by his 
party, namely, a desire so to discharge the duties of 
the high office to which he aspires as ‘ to allay do¬ 
mestic strife, preserve peace and friendship with for¬ 
eign nations, and promote the best interests of the 
Republic.’ ” 

At present the prospects is that the conserva- 











6 


tive Whig vote will be so divided as to defeat a walls and destroyed the high reuown of leu- 

cer’s race ; but we shall fall by our own suicidal 
hands; we will kindle the flames which shall 


popular election and throw the decision upon 
the House of Representatives—at all times an 
event to be deprecated, but at this period pecu¬ 
liarly pernicious and dangerous, and threaten¬ 
ing the rudest shock to our system. What the 
result will be I will not venture to predict, but 
I will say that I do not see the least probability 
of Mr. Fillmore’s election by the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. I think, therefore, it would be the 
part of wisdom and patriotism in the Whigs (by 
which I mean those who have affiliated with no 
other party) to throw their votes for Mr. Buch¬ 
anan as the strongest of the candidates opposed 
to the Northern sectional party. This they may 
do without renouncing their old political faith, 
without stain of honor or suspicion of apostacy. 
The motive being the integrity of the Union, the 
defeat of a party which is founded on geograph¬ 
ical discriminations and bound together by dan- 


destroy the edifice of our constitutional Union; 
ourselves will break the bonds of harmonious in¬ 
terest and fraternal concord which have held us 
together as one people. . May Heaven inspire us 
with wisdom to avert so sad a catastrophe 1 
Very truly, my dear sir, your friend, 

* JAS. ALFRED PEARCE. 

To the Plon. J. R. Franklin, 

Snow' Hill, Maryland. 


P. S. I add a letter of Mr. Clay to Rev. Wal¬ 
ter Colton, which shows his opinion in 1843 of 
the effect of the abolition movements of that 
day: 

Ashland Sept. 2, 1843. 

My Dear Sir : Allow me to suggest a subject for 
iwo.1 nubiiuitiiMUHiRaiw wtAuu. u, uoll _ one of your tracts, which, treated in your popular 

,. , v ** . n ■, J • j. and condensed wav, I think would be attended with 

gerous sectional schemes, the act will be vmdi-.WW^^ i mean abolition, 

cated by disinterested patriotism. r i t i s manifest that the ultras of that party are ex- 

For my part, I shall not abjure my political 'tremely mischievous, and are hurrying on thecoun- 
creed, and, having in view but the one object ; try to fearful consequences. They are not to be 
which I have stated, I shall hold myself ready (conciliated by the Whigs. Engrossed with a single 
, , , ,, ’ \ J i idia, they care for nothing else. They would see 

to take any other course-which may be neces- the ’administration of the Government precipitate 
sary to effect that object. Should the hopes of the nation into absolute ruin before they would lend 
Mr. Fillmore’s friends be realized; should it ap-;a helping hand to arrest its career. They treat 
pear that he is more likely to carry the great j w ° rst and denounce most those who treat them best, 
f i r , f • , J D , w ho so far agree with them as to admit slavery to 

body of the patriotic, but quiet people, who L an eyil . Vitness their conduct towards Mr. 

generally come to the rescue in times of public!Briggs and Mr. Adams in Massachusetts, and to- 
peril; that he is, in short, the best able to sub-(wards me. 

due this storm of sectional passion and preiu- I will give you an outline of the manner in which 

dice, I shall rejoice to see him again filling the * r £° u ^ s S^Vion toUe British Gove^S! 
chair of otate. But I will not ariect an unal- show how it is disposed of by the Federal Constitu- 
loyed gratification ; for I cannot forget that he tion; that it is left exclusively to the States, except 
is the candidate of a party which has proscribed in regard to fugitives, direct taxes, and representa- 
Whigs who were not members of “ the order”— Show that the agitation of the question in 

r , , • , -i . j , j . the free States will first destrov all harmony, and 

of a party which boasted that it had risen on fi na q v i ea d to disunion, perpetual war, the extinc- 
the ruins of the Whig and Democratic parties,'tion of the African race, ultimate military despotism, 
and which has pronounced both of them cor- But the great aim and object of your tract should 
TU pt ,be to arouse the laboring classes in the free States 

Whatever the result, I shall be content if the' a p. inst » e P ict * h , e co " se ' 

, ., , ’ . . of immediate abolition. The slaves, being tree, 

dangerous excitement which threatens our peace lW ould be dispersed throughout the Union; they 
and union can be calmed dotfn, so that the ex- j would enter into competition with the free laborer— 
treme opinions which have their roots in prejti- with the American, the Irish, the German—reduce 
dice and passion may wither away. Then a his v f a S es » be confounded with him, and affect his 
liberal forbearance and kindly toleration of dif¬ 
ferent sentiments may resume their influence. 

If this cannot be done, if the South and the 
North are to regard one another as enemies, then 
sooner or later our “ house, divided against it¬ 
self,” must fall. Then we shall have to say, with 
Pantheus— 

Venit summa dies et inductsJbile tempus 
Dardanice. 

But ours will be a sadder fate than that of 
Priam’s empire; for it was not the Dardanian 
people by whom the inevitable doom of Troy 
was fixed. A foreign foe beat down her lofty 


moral and social standing. And, as the ultras go 
both for abolition and amalgamation, show that 
their object is to unite in marriage the laboring 
white man and the laboring black woman; to re¬ 
duce the white laboring man to the despised and de¬ 
graded condition of the black man. 

I would show their opposition to colonization; 
show its humane, religious, and patriotic aims ; that 
they are to separate those whom God has separated. 
Why do the abolitionists oppose colonization ? To 
keep and amalgamate together the two races, in 
violation of God’s will, and to keep the blacks here, 
that they may interfere with, degrade, and debase 
the laboring whites. Show that the British Gov¬ 
ernment is co-operating with the abolitionists for 
the purpose of dissolving the Union, Ac. You can 












7 


make a powerful article that will be felt in every ex- 1 the South would be more effectually protected 

Of «? ?!“?»"> t.» 'non-slafe- 


ject. 


HEN lt\ CLAY. 


LETTER OF HON. THOS. G. PRATT. 


holding States, and therefore rather promote 
than interpose to prevent a result so calamitous. 
We have hitherto disregarded the danger which 
such a state of feeling and such a. course of ac¬ 
tion would indicate as most imminent, because 


In response to the communications received 
from many of my brother Whigs, I deem it my: we have assumed thac such sentiments and ac- 
privilege, in this manner, to counsel with all in tion could only be attributed to a small minority 
relation to the course which patriotism and duty of our Northern brethern. But now, when this 
would seem to indicate as proper in the present sectional exasperation has been made available 


political crisis. 


for the inauguration of a party calling itself 


No lover of his country whose judgment is'Republican, under whose banner, fur the'fust 
unbiassed by party zeal and uncontrolled by I time in the history of the country, this sectional 
Northern or Southern fanaticism can fail to see'opposition to Southern rights and interests have 


the pending danger to the Union. 


p position to &oiu>nern ngnts ana interests nave 
united in nominating, with alleged probabilities 


The first duty of every man who loves his|of success, a purely sectional ticket for the 
country and her institutions is to provide for Presidency and Vice Presidency of the United 
their safety. The life of the nation is in dan- States, we can no longer shut our eyes to the 
ger. It must be saved ; then, and not till then, reality of the threatening danger; we cannOt 
will it be permissible to us to discuss our differ- hut feel that the success of such a party would 
ences of opinion upon minor subjects. ibe the death knell of the Union. The ur.patri- 

I say that the life of the Union is in danger,'otic purposes of this sectional party are but too 
because, for the first time in our history, a party manifest. Many of its supporters avow their 


has been formed composed exclusively of citizens 
of one section of the country, bound together by 
the single bond of an alliance for offensive war¬ 
fare against the other section. That the success 
of such a party would imperil the Union has 


object and purpose to be disunion, and have 
even gone so far in the madness of their fanati¬ 
cism as to desecrate the flag of our country by 
obliterating from its constellation the fifteen stars 
which represent the slaveholding States, and dis- 


sixteen of its stars remaining r to represent the 
sixteen non-slaveholding States. It is manifest 


affairs. 

The value of the slave property at the South 
is not less than two thousand million of dollars, 
a sum equal to the value of all the other property 
in the United States, as shown by the last cen¬ 
sus. This property is not only recognised, but 
so far guarantied by the Constitution as to im¬ 
pose upon the Federal Government the duty of 
restoring ,to his owner the slave who may escape 
into another State or Territory of the United 
States. For years past this constitutional obli¬ 
gation has been not only repudiated by some of 
the non-slaveholding States, but political par¬ 
ties have been organized in oil with the avowed 
object of liberating the slaves, and thus not only 
depriving the South of this vast amount of pro¬ 
perty, but subjecting it to all the horrors which 
would necessarily result from such a consumma¬ 
tion. In addition to all this, whilst the aboli¬ 
tionists on the one hand openly avow their op¬ 
position to the Constitution and their desire to 
destroy a Government which imposes obligations 
repudiated by them, on the other hard many 
Southern men, goaded by the incessant attacks 
of their Northern fellow-citizens upon their feel¬ 
ings, their property, and their constitutional 
rights, express the belief that the interests of 


been recently demonstrated b} r an address ofj playing as their parly banner that flag with but 
Mr. Fillmore, and will, it is submitted, be ap¬ 
parent to all who will bestow a moment’s con¬ 
sideration upon the existing posture of political that those who disavow the object are not igno¬ 
rant of the inevitable result. 

The Whigs of Maryland, whom I have the 
honor to address, need no proof to convince them 
that calamitous consequences would flow from 
the success of this sectional party. They each 
and all know that the election of Mr. Fremont, 
and the administration of the Government Dy 
him upon the principles of his party, would 
necessarily occasion a dissolution of the Federal 
Union, to which they have been taught to look 
as the source of national strength and of indi¬ 
vidual prosperity and happiness. 

I have known the Whigs of my State too long, 
I estimate their patriotism too highly, I have 
associated with them too intimately, to suppose 
it necessary for a moment to offer an argument 
to them in behalf of their country. They appre¬ 
ciate, as fully as I could depict, the horrors of 
disunion; they will see the loss of national 
strength, the internal dissensions, the fatal check 
to civilization and freedom, the contempt of the 
world which would be the consequences of such 
a calamity. The Whigs of Maryland, who have 
followed the lead of such patriots as Clay and 
Webster, “ will never keep step to any other 
music than that of the Union.” 

It therefore only remains to inquire what 













8 


course shall be taken to rebuke sectional fanati-‘more and Donelson will interpose to prevent the 
cism and preserve our country from the dangers fair exercise ot our judgment on that side, I 
of its success. (propose briefly to inquire whether there is any- 

You are aware that this Republican party, | thing to prevent our support of the Democratic 
which we all agree must be put down at all nominees, it alter investigation we shall believe 
hazards, is opposed by two other party organi-jthat our vote iu their favor would more certainly 
zations: the American, headed by Messrs. Fill- secure the safety of our country. It cannot 
more and Donelson, and the Democratic, led on; have escaped your observation that the political 
by Messrs. Buchanan and Breckinridge. You principles npon which the Whig and Democrat- 
will recollect that Mr. Fillmore, prior to his re- ic parties have battled for thirty years, with va- 
cent visit to Europe, abandoned the Whig party j ried success, have been for the most part settled 
and became a member of the former of these! by the fiat of the people, and that such as have 
organizations, which boasted that it had risen [not been so definitely disposed of have been 
upon the downfall of the Whig party, and which jeither abandoned by the one or adopted by the 
proclaimed that the corruptions of the Whig and [other of those parties; so that now the repre- 
Democratic parties constituted the necessity of sentativesof the people in the halls of State and 
its existence. You know that he and Andrew Federal legislation are found indiscriminately ad- 
Jackson Donelson have been nominated by this! locating and opposing the same principles and 
party (not by the Whig party) for the Presiden- measures. Not only is there no principle of po- 
cy and Vice Presidency, and you will admit that htical antagoism which should prevent Whigs 
the principles of proscription because of religious an d Democrats acting together for the benefit of 
’ ” - their common country, but it is confidently sub¬ 

mitted that upon the only vital question, that 
which now agitates and endangers the country, 
the two parties fully accord. The Whig and 
Democratic platforms upon the slavery question 
in eighteen hundred and fifty-two were identi¬ 
cal ; and, there being no Whig nominees before 
the people, it might be suggested that consisten¬ 
cy would rather require than oppose the support 
of the Democratic nominees by Whigs. The 


opinions, and other repudiated tenets of this 
new party, are in direct antagonism with the 
principles of that good old Whig party to which 
we are still attached, and which has been aban¬ 
doned by Mr. Fillmore. It is not my object in 
referring to these facts to deny to the American 
party, since the secession of its abolition adhe¬ 
rents, a fair claim to nationality ; nor to deny 
the patriotism and virtue of Mr. Fillmore, nor 
his eminent qualification for the office of Chief 
Magistrate. But I do deduce from them the controlling inquiry to the patriot now recurs, 
necessary conclusion that, as Whigs, we owe no'which of the two national organizations can by 
party allegiance to Messrs. Fillmore and Donel-!^ vote be made most certainly successful? 
son, members and nominees of the American! Every Maryland Whig will be bound by eve¬ 
ry tie of duty to vote as his judgement shall de¬ 
cide this question. 

It may not be immaterial to observe that neith- 


party. I deduce the conclusion that, as Whigs, 
we are not only at liberty, but that as patriots 
we are bound, by every obligation to our country 
and posterity, to throw aside, on the one hand, er of the national nominees will obtain through 
the feelings of hostility which Mr. Fillmore’s out this broad land any votes which will not be 
desertion of our party would be calculated to cast by national conservative citizens, and it is 
engender, and, on the other hand, to forget for j to be regretted that in this crisis that vote should 
the time our former battles with the Democratic |be divided between two national candidates whilst 
party, and to ask ourselves but one question—[the entire anti-national vote will be concentrated 
which of the two national organizations offers the |upon the sectional nominee. To judge of the 
best guarantee of success in crushing out of exis- (relative strength of the two national organiza- 
tence this new and monstrous sectional partv, tions it is unnecessary to trace minutely the 
which threatens the life of your country ? I do'origin of the American party. It is sufficient to 
not propose to examine the relative claims of,bring to your recollection that it was originally 
the two national parties or their nominees to our .composed, North aud South, of the dissatisfied 
support. It is not, in my judgment, permissible [members of the two parties, and that in the 


in the present crisis to interpose our individual 
differences of opinion upon minor questions. It 
is sufficient for us to know that the election of 
either national nominee would secure the Union ; 
and the only question permitted by patriotism 
is, whether our support of the one or the other 
would more certainly prove successful ? 

But before I proceed to this inquiry, having 


North its original members were chiefly those 
who opposed the conservative principle upon 
the slavery question avowed in the platforms of 
the two old parties. It must not escape j r our 
recollection that upon the nomination of Messrs 
Fllmore and Donelson a large majority of the 
Northern delegates seceded from the Convention 
declared their intention not to support those 


shown that no political allegiance to Messrs Fill- nominees, and subsequently united in the nomi- 





9 


nation of Mr. Fremont. This separation of the 
sectional from the national portion of the Ameri¬ 
can part} 7 has occurred in every Northern State 
in the Confederacy. I deduce from these facts 
the nationality of the supporters of Messrs Fill¬ 
more and Donelson, and I submit the inquiry 
for the honest decision of those to whom this 
paper is addressed, what non-slaveholding State 
can this national branch of the American party, 
thus shorn of the larger portion of its original 
strength, promise its nominees ? Let the Whigs 
of Maryland ponder upon the view of this sub¬ 
ject I have endeavored to present to their con¬ 
sideration, and no one of them will say that a 
single non-slaveholding State is certain for Fill¬ 
more and Donelson. Time, 1 think, will develop 
the fact that Mes rs Fillmore and Donelson will 
be left without an electoral ticket in most of the 
free States, and it is at any rate the deliberate 
conviction of my judgment that they will not 
carry a single non-slaveholding State in the 
Union. If I am right, or even approximate the 
truth in the view I have taken, it will necessari¬ 
ly follow that any conservative vote for the 
American nominee North wiil be equivalent to 
a vote for Mr. Fremont, as it will be a vote ta¬ 
ken from Mr. Buchanan, his only real competi¬ 
tor. 

It is clear, then, that to the South alone can 
the friends of Messrs Fillmore and Donelson 
look for the probable chance of an electoral vote; 
and it is to the States of Maryland, Tennessee, 
Kentucky and Missouri that they profess to look 
with the greatest hope of success. It is mani¬ 
fest that if this hope were realized, it might in¬ 
deed prevent the election ot Messrs Buchanan 
and Breckinridge by the people, but it would 
only throw the election of President into the 
present House of Representatives, composed as 
that House now is. Does not the election of this 
same House, after a contest of two months, of a 
Black Republican Speaker, admonish us of the 
danger of such an experiment ? Who can doubt 
that our political fabric would be shaken to its 
very foundations by this election of President 
being thrown upon the present House of Repre¬ 
sentatives ? On the other hand, is it not certain 
beyond the contingency of a doubt, that the vote 
of the States indicated for Mr. Buchanan, when 
added to that of the other Southern States, would 
secure his election and the consequent safety of 
the Union? It is obvious that in this condition 
of the canvas the only serious contest is that be¬ 
tween Fremont and Buchanan ; that the onl} 7 
possible result that the most sanguine of the 
friends of Fillmore and Donelson can hope to 
obtain is to carry the contest into the House of 
Representatives. Who can conceive any thing 
more fatal to the peace of the country, more in¬ 
sane in political action, than such a course of 
2 


conduct leading to such a result ? Suppose Mr. 
Fillmore to reach the House of Represensatives 
with the votes of four or five States, (his utmost 
possible strength,) no man can seriously contend 
that he would be elected President, and assured¬ 
ly few will be found bold enough to assert that, 
under such circumstances, he ought to be. The 
only effect, then, of giving the electoral vote of 
any portion of the South to Mr. Fillmore would 
be to transfer the contest between Mr. Buchanan 
and Fremont from the hustings to the House of 
Representatives ; and the danger to our country, 
now sufficiently menacing, would, in that event, 
be appalling indeed. Who can contemplate the 
occurrence of such a contingency without feeling 
that he would be a traitor to his country if ho 
failed to exert every possible effort to avert so 
awful a, calamity ? 

I deem it, then, to be my duty, as well as that 
of all who believe with me that the election of 
Fremont Would be the death-knell of the Union, 
to unite in the support of Messrs Buchanan and 
Breckinridge ; and I shall sustain their election 
to the best of my ability. Whilst I concede 
that there are certain principles hitherto profess¬ 
ed by the party which nominated them that 
cannot receive our support, yet on the great is¬ 
sues of the constitutional rights of the South 
the platform on which they stand meets my cor¬ 
dial approval, and is in accordance with that of 
the party which I now address, and to whose 
kind favor I owe the honor of holding the seat I 
now occupy, and which I shall cease to hold af¬ 
ter the 4th of March next by the fiat of that 
party to which Mr. Fillmore has attached him¬ 
self, and which is now dominant in the Legisla¬ 
ture of my native State. 

Let Maryland Whigs remember that the po¬ 
litical battle now being fought is one of the 
deepest interest to them ; that the maintenance 
of the constitutional rights of the South is the 
issue tendered to the American people by the 
Democratic party, and (as the Whigs have no 
candidate) by that party alone; that upon this 
issue the Republican party have staked the Union 
and in such a battle, upon such an issue, they 
must be true to those who are doing battle in 
our behalf. It would be indeed sad if, in such 
a contest, the conservative strength of the coun¬ 
try should not be united : it would be as strange 
as sad if, in such a contest, Southern men should 
not be found battling shoulder to shoulder for the 
maintenance of their own constitutional rights. 

In thus accomplishing what I believe to be a 
duty, I shall be inexpressibly gratified if T shall 
find myself sustained by the approval of my 
fellow Whigs, who have refused to abandon 
either the party or the principles in support of 
which we shall remain at perfect liberty to re¬ 
organize as soon as our common efforts shall have 






10 


sueceeded in averting the perils that now threat¬ 
en our beloved country. 

THOMAS G. PRATT. 


SPEECH OF HON JNO. W. CRISFIELD. 


Mr. Crisfield, after acknowledging the com¬ 
pliment their presence and call implied, which, 
he said, was as unexpected as it was unmerited, 
and expressing his thanks, proceeded, in sub¬ 
stance to say: That they all knew his antece¬ 
dents ; that it was well known he had always 
been a Whig,, and under all circumstances, as 
well in the darkest hours of defeat as in the 
hour of triumph, had stood under the banner of 
that party, proud to do battle in its support. 

He had done so, because the leading principles 
of that party and the doctrines it proclaimed 
were just and patriotic, and had the unqualified 
approval of his heart and judgemnt. These 
principles, in his opinion, so just, so conservative, 
so consistent with the Constitution, had been so 
long cherished, and so ardently loved, that he 
could no more shake them off or change them 
than he could change his opinions of religion or 
of morals. And he felt sure that no one expect¬ 
ed him to do it. He reavowed them, and de¬ 
clared that, as they had been the rulers of his 
political conduct in the past, so they would be 
in the future, whenever, from the state of parties] pledges of that party. 


and the condition of the country, those princi¬ 
ples should.be in issue. But unfortunately that 
was not now ; the Whig party was not a party 
to this fight; Whig principles are not in issue ; 
and Whig candidates were not, and would not 
he in the field. New parties had been formed, 
new issues had been joined, and upon these all 
Southern men could stand side by side. The 
real contest now was between Southern rights 


as he thought it was, he would prefer it over 
all others. He had, too, been an ardent admirer 
of Mr. Fillmore personally, and if he could re¬ 
gard him now as he formerly had, he would per¬ 
haps prefer him for the high office which he 
once tilled, over all others. But he had changed. 
The painful conclusion had been forced upon 
him that Mr. Fillmore was not now what he 
had been. He had become a member of a se¬ 
cret political organization, dangerous in its ten¬ 
dency, destructive of the freedom of political 
opinion, and at war with the theory of man’s 
capacity for self-government—an organization 
proscriptive in its character and intolerant of re¬ 
ligious freedom, which enforced its jesuitical 
policy by oaths not authorized by law and demor¬ 
alizing in their tendency. He is, as we are in¬ 
formed, “a member in good standing of Council 
No. 177,” in western New York. If this be so 
as few will doubt, it is a sad truth. Its discove¬ 
ry crimsoned his cheek with shame. In allow¬ 
ing himself to be placed in this position, Mr. 
Fillmore has been unjust to himself, and reckless 
of his own fame. But this is not all; he has 
unwhigged himself; he has become a member 
of an organization which boasts of having arisen 
upon the ruins, and in spite of the opposition, 
of the Whig party, and proclaims, in its Well 
considered confession of faith, that it is net re¬ 
sponsible for the obnoxious errors and violated 
He consorts with An¬ 


drew Jackson Donelson, the defamer of his Ad¬ 
ministration and the reviler of the Whig party, 
a Democrat of the stamp most odoious to Whigs; 
and he now demands of us, as Whigs, our sup¬ 
port of this extraordinary and anomalous associ¬ 
ation. At this moment he is carrying the ban¬ 
ner of those who conspired for the destruction of 
the Whig party. With these facts before him, he 
could not recognize Mr. Fillmore as a Whig; he 


and Northern fanaticism. In this state of cir-diad disrobed himself of that title; he is an alien 
cumstances, he felt it to be his solemn duty to from the fold, and had not a shadow of a claim, 


lay aside ancient prejudices, and fraternize with 
that party now organized, and in the field, which 
in his judgment, offers the best guarantee of its 
own success and of safety for our national and 
domestic institutions; and in the performance 
of this duty, after dispassionately examining the 
whole subject, be had come to the determination 
now for the first time, publicly announced, to 
give his support—his cordial and energetic sup¬ 
port—to the nominees of the Cincinnati Con¬ 
vention. 

Mr. C. said he would briefly assign some of 
the reasons which had brought him to this de¬ 
termination. 

He could not support Mr. Fillmore. He was 
a supporter of his administration ; he thought 
it one of the purest and best which had trans¬ 
pired in his time; and if it could he restored, 


based on old party associations, to the support 
of the few who still remain coustant to the an¬ 
cient faith. 

But if he were willing, in consideration of his 
services, to overlook these serious objections to 
Mr. Fillmore, he could not support him without 
also supporting Mr. llonelson. The two are in¬ 
dissolubly blended; and be would not vote for 
Mr. Donelson. He had not a single qualifica¬ 
tion to recommend him for the high place for 
which he is nominated ; and to old Whigs, he is 
perhaps the most objectionable man who could 
be named. For his own part, he was not wil¬ 
ling to vote for any man for Vice President 
whom he would be unwilling to trust as Presi¬ 
dent. He had not forgotten the blasted fruits 
of the Whig triumph of 1840. Who would be 
willing to see Mr. Donelson President ? No one, 










11 


he would venture to say; and yet, if the Fill¬ 
more ticket prevails, he may, and probably 
will, be. Twice have the Whigs carried the 
Presidential election, and on both occasions, 
scarcely had the shout of triumph ceased to re¬ 
echo before they were called upon to mourn the 
death of their President. What right have we 
to calculate upon exemption from a like calam¬ 
ity in the next Presidential term ? What gua- 
antee have we that Mr. Fillmore will not also be 
taken ? and if he should be, who is not appalled 
at the idea of the duties of that high station de¬ 
volving on Mr. Donelson ? Who does not trem¬ 
ble at the thought of entrusting him with the 
whole power of this Government; of placing in 


cesses, and headless of constitutional restraints 
and of consequences, are madly rushing into the 
Republican ranks with a unanimity hitherto 
without example; and it may well be feared 
that even the united energies of all southern men 
and the conservatives of every section may be 
too feeble to resist the overwhelming power. 
The Union trembles under the blows of this sec¬ 
tional strife; God grant that the fearful catas¬ 
trophe of its dissolution may be averted ! The 
election of Fremont would be its death-knell. 
If his supporters are strong enough to elect him, 
they are also strong enough to consummate 
their designs of sectional aggrandizement and 
southern humiliation; and in spite of the Con- 


his hands its army and its navy; of committing stitution, they will assume the power of Cen¬ 
to his management its foreign policy; and of gress to legislate our Slavery in the Territories 
leaving to his charge the settlement of the peril-lof the United States ; they will exclude the 
ous questions of domestic policy which at this South from its just rights in the national domain, 
moment are rudely agitating the Union of thesejabolish slavery in the District of Columbia, re¬ 
states, and threatening dissolution ? He couldipeal the fugitive slave bill and refuse to admit 


not vote for Mr. Donelson ; and if any one 
should twit him for supporting Mr. Buchanan 
because he is a Democrat, Mr. C. would just re¬ 
mind him that Mr. Donelsou, also, is a Demo¬ 
crat, with the stain of Know-nothingism and in¬ 
capacity superadded. 

But if he waived these considerations, there 
were other reasons, still more conclusive, which 
obliged him at this crisis to give his support to 
Mr. Buchanan. The contest in which we are 
engaged, unhappily, is a contest between the 
North and the South—between abolitionism 
and free-soilism on the one side, and the preser¬ 
vation of southern rights and the Union on the 
other. This was the real issue, and lie might 
say the only issue now to be decided—and one 
of more overwhelming importance was never 
presented for decision to the American people. 
On the one side we find the Republicans, led on 
by Mr. Fremont, sustaining the ultra northern 
view. The objects of this party are unmistaka¬ 
ble ; they are humiliating to the South, and de¬ 
structive of her constitutional rights and material 
interests. The Republicans deny to her her just 
share of political power; negative those consti¬ 
tutional guarantees which were intended for pro¬ 
tection, and without which she would never have 
entered the Union. And is there no danger that 
they may triumph ? Already have they ob¬ 
tained control of nearly every State legislature 
north of Mason and Dixon’s line ; they have a 
majority in the House of Representatives, which 
elects the President in case of the failure of the 
people to elect; and to preside over the deliber¬ 
ations of that body, they have elected Mr. Banks, 
who boldly avows, that sooner than abolition 
and free-soil measures should fail, he would “let 


new States into the Union unless they repudiate 
slavery. That these measures would follow the 
election of Fremont he had no doubt; and when 
they did, the Union would, and ought to be, 
dissolved. These measure?, and each of them, 
negative important provisions of the Constitu¬ 
tion inserted for the security of the South, and 
if persisted in are just grounds of separation. 

Felloiv-citizens, do you appreciate the dangers 
which encompass you ? He feared we were on 
the verge of dissolution. Gloom and apprehen¬ 
sion shroud the future ; our very existence as a 
nation—as one united people—in all probability 
depends upon the result of this election. Our 
institutions are assailed in their most vulnerable 
part. The torch of the incendiarry is blazing; 
the citadel of the Union is besieged; and this is 
no time for the garrison to be wasting the time 
and strength, which should be given to the com¬ 
mon enemy, in the indulgence of old antipathies 
and vain disputes; hut regardless of the past, and 
with patriotic devotion, sacrificing, on the alter 
of our common country our ancient prejudices 
arid preferences, we sh ould rally under the stan¬ 
dard of that leader who gives the best assurance 
of his ability to preserve the common safety. 

If we concede Mr. Fillmore’s entire nationality, 
and that, if elected, his energies would be de¬ 
voted in good faith to preserve the Union, and 
quell all sectional discord, what assurance have 
we that he can he elected? Does any one believe 
that he can he? He who thinks he can be is 
blind to the signs of the tames. Mr. C. knew 
very well that in certain quarters studied efforts 
had been made to produce the impression that 
his election was certain, and it is quite possible 
that there are those whose vision does not reach 


the Union slide.” The people of the Free States, beyond the narrow horizon of Somerset, or even 
burning with fanaticism, inflated by these sue- of the State of Maryland, who may think so; 







12 


but the man who comprehends within his view 
the whole country, and the present state of par¬ 
ties, who has observed for the last half-year the 
varied and manifold indications of popular sen¬ 
timent, and is familiar with the spirit of the Ameri¬ 
can press, and can think there is the remotest 
probabitity of the election of Mr. Fillmore by the 
people, has become insensible to evidence. Where 
is he to get the votes? He is the nominee of the 
American party, which, if it was even a national 
party, has long since ceased to be so by the de¬ 
fection of its own members. A large portion of 
the members from the free States of the conven¬ 
tion which nominated him at that time seceded, 
and went over to the Republicans; and from that 
time to this the work of secession has been going 
on, until now it may be truthfully affirmed that 
the American party, distinct from, and uncon¬ 
nected with the Republicans, has ceased to exist 
in those States. True, individual members re¬ 
main firm ; but, as a party, capable anywhere in 
those States, unless it be iu the city of New 
York, of effecting anything, it does not exist.— 
Nor can he expect any important aid in those 
States from other parties. The Whig party 
there, for the most part, lost itself in American¬ 
ism, and as part of the American party has gone 
over to the Republicans. Except Choate and 
Winthrop, and probably Everett, of Massachu¬ 
setts, he could not nAme a Whig of New Eng¬ 
land, of national reputation, who was not now a 
Republican. Even the most active and able 
supporters of Mr. Fillmore’s administration have 
enlisted in the Republican ranks. Dayton, of 
New Jersey, is the Republican candidatfor Vice 
President; Collamer, of Vermont, is the chosen 
advocate of Republicanism in the United States 
Senate, and Corwin, of Ohio, his Secretary of the 
Treasury, is stumping Indiana for Fremont; and 
the same may be said of many others of like 
stamp. 

In the free States nearly every Whig of na¬ 
tional reputation may now be found among the 
Republicans. The legislatures of those States 
are either Republican or Democratic—not Fill¬ 
more Americans; in the House of Representa¬ 
tives there are scarcely enough members from 
the free States who favor Mr. Fillmore’s election 
to fill the cabinet appointments, even if they were 
of the right material; and if there is one mem 
ber from those States in the Senate of the United 
States who favors his election, Mr. C could not 
name him. Of the anti-democratic press of those 
States the same may be said. Out of 91 anti 
democratic journals from the free States which 
exchange with the New York Herald , 78, as we 
learn from that paper, are for Fremont, and 11 
for Fillmore and 2 for Buchamm. Shut their 
eyes, as the friends of Mr. Fillmore may, the 
fact is nevertheless true that the whole North 


and West are either Republican or Democratic } 
and no reasonable ground exists justifying the 
belief that he can get a single electoral vote in 
the free States, unless it be in California, of 
which he did not pretend to speak. These States 
will vote for Buchanan or Fremont, Mr. C. 
greatly feared a majority of them would go for 
the latter. In the South Mr. Fillmore may do 
better. His friends last year carried Delaware, 
Maryland and Kentucky; if these be accorded 
to him now, they will not elect him. Can he 
got any more ? Few, if any, think he can ; but 
suppose he gets Tennessee, North Carolina, and 
Louisiana—and his most sanguine friends claim 
no more in the South—still he is greatly in the 
minority. Then, he cannot be elected by the 
popular vote; and every vote thrown for him, 
with that view, is a vote thrown away. But 
votes for him may have a different and very 
mischievous effect. If he carries the States re¬ 
ferred to, or even a considerable portion of them, 
no election probably will be effected by the peo¬ 
ple, and the election will be referred to the 
House of Representatives. Will that benefit 
him? 

Certainly not. His strength in that House is 
the Fuller squad; which after a two months’ 
struggle could not get a Speaker. But in a 
presidential election, when the vote is cast by 
States, it would have even less effective strength, 
for they arc in the majority in three States onfy, 
(Deleware, Maryland, and Kentucky,) whuh 
would give him three Votes only. Then itis 
equally certain that he cannot be elected by tie 
House. If it goes to the House, Fremont wll 
be elected, or there will be no election. Tie 
Republicans were strong enough to elect Banls 
Speaker ; and is there any reasonable grounl 
to doubt their ability to elect Fremont President? 
They have, it is feared, already fourteen States, 
and it requires but sixteen to elect. Starting 
with this immense odds in his favor, and with 
the patronage of the government at his disposal, 
in the event of success, his friends will have no 
difficulty in procuring the additional votes re¬ 
quired. He considered, then, all votes given for 
Fillmore for the purpose of defeating the elec¬ 
tion by the people, and of throwing it into the 
House, as votes given to promote Fremont’s 
election; and that those who, under existing 
circumstances, and with such an object, cast 
their votes, are unfriendly to the South, and re¬ 
sponsible for all the consequences which may 
follow. 

If the friends of Mr. Fillmore could reasona¬ 
bly calculate on his election, or if the contest 
was between him and Buchanan, he would have 
nothing to say. He should vote in silence ac¬ 
cording to his convictions of propriety, feeling 
assured that, whether the one or the other she- 










13 


I 


ceeded, the substantial interests of the country—the concluding portion of his friend Crisfield’s 
above all, the safety of the Union—would be speech, but hoped himself, to pass unobserved. 
preserved. But the contest is not between Not that ho had any reluctance to avow his 
them ; and his being in the field, at least in the!opinions regarding the present crisis, for they 
Southern States, can be productive of mischief) were already well known in this community, 
only. While the Freesoil interests are all com-'but he desired not to participate, at this time, 
bined .and combining, the South presents a in the excitement of political discussion. He 
divided front; defeat and humiliation are the; had all his life, been an attentive observer of the 
certain consequences of these tactics if perse -1 politics of the country. He had witnessed and 
vered in. The real contest is between Mr. i participated in the strife of parties; had seen 
Buchanan and Mr. Fremont; one or the other with deep concern, gloomy clouds threatening 
of these must succeed; and, as between them, disaster and destruction to the country’s fairest 
he held it to be the duty of every Union-loving prospects, but under the guiding hand of a 
man—of every man who cherished the honor of! merciful Providence, they had passed harmless- 
the South, and desired her to be preserved in the) ly by. But never before had he looked upon 
enjoyment of her constitutional rights and au-' the political condition of the country with so 
thority—to give the former a cheerful and unre-lmuch solicitude and anxiety. Never before 
served support. For one, he intended to do it.', were such issues presented in a Presidential 


election for the People’s decision. He had 
watched the progress of events with intense in¬ 
terest. He had pondered carefully the pros and 


The ground Mr. Buchanan occupied on this 
great question was the true, constitutional, and 
only safe ground; it corresponded with Mr. C.’s 
long-cherished and oft-repeated opinions; and Icons on all sides of the absorbing questions of 
he should be false to those opinions if he hesi-lthe day. He believed he had weighed them 
tated, at this time, in giving him and them hisj with impartial judgment, certainly with personal 
support. He thought that the duty of all, (disinterestedness, and with entire candor. Hebe- 
Southern men especially. He regretted that (longed to none of the existing parties. He was 
many of those with whom he had long acted'but an humble fragment of what was onee the 
his cherished and familiar friends, thought dif-lglorious old Whig party. The practical ques- 
ferently ; he regretted not to see them around itions heretofore in issue between the Whig and 
him to-night, and hear their famaliar voices j Democratic parties have been adjusted and pass- 
cheering him onward—the separation pained led into history. The Whig party has no longer 
him. He conceded to them an equal degree of (an existence. Its vitality seems to have passed 
intelligence and patriotism which he claimed for I away with its great leaders, Clay and Webster, 
himself; and could only regret that they would] When, where, why, and by whom, it was 
not think with him. He believed he was right,|“ruined,” deserted, betrayed; —its name, its 
he knew he was sincere, and he should act up to (principles, its organization, abandoned —who 
his duty, painful though it be. Possibly h elcanteU? These incidents of its history are hid- 
might be denounced; better men had been de-den among the mysteries of secret, midnight, 
nounced, and he knew of no reason why he oath-bound Know-Nothing Councils, 
ought to expect exemption ; but he should not) A new party has arisen, sprung up as it were, 
hesitate or falter; he should act up to his prin-jin a night, without “a local habitation or a 
ciples, and according to his sense of duty, in thejname ”—meeting nowhere, composed of no¬ 
face of all denunciation. He was not afraid to j body, and knowing nothing. It was first dis- 


do his duty. He would leave consequences to 
take care of themselves. 

Mr. Crisfield, after having told an anecdote 


covered by the public, in the ballot-box, to the 
dismay of the Democracy, and the delight of 
the Whigs who were glad to see their ancient 


SPEECH OF HON. ISAAC D. JONES. 


illustrative of his own position, again tendered (foe defeated, no matter by whom. It had its 
his thanks to the audience, bid them good night, | origin, it is said in the North; in the land of 
and retired. Millerism,Mesmerism, Mormonism, Spiritualism, 

_ __ (Abolitionism. In June 1855, emboldened by 

lits success, it emerged into public view, and or¬ 
ganized as a political party, calling itself Ameri- 

- (can. Its purposes and objects have since been 

Mr Jones said he would no longer resist the (somewhat understood. Its councils have exhi- 
calls of his fellow citizens. He had to this mo- bited a sinjplar want of unanimity and har- 
ment declined to speak on this occasion ; had (mony in their party action. In June 1855, they 
crone home with no intention to be here to night, planted themselves upou their 12th Section as a 
and had returned to the village to gratify the (National party, acquiescing in existing laws as 
wishes of the ladies of his family to enjoy the a final settlement of the Slavery question. In 
masic of the band. He arrived in time to hear/February, 1856, the American National Council 






14 


abandoned the 12th Section. Southern mem¬ 
bers protest and secede. In a day or two the 
scene changes—a compromise is patched up in 
secret—Southern members and Northern mem¬ 
bers re-appear in American National Convention, 
and nominate Fillmore and Donelson. North¬ 
ern members again protest, secede, and denounce 
Fillmore and Donelson. 

But other startling developments had preced¬ 
ed these doings of February. It was boasted 
that this National American party had elected 
a large majority of members of the house 
of Representatives. Congress met in Decem¬ 
ber, 1855. when it was found that these Na¬ 
tional Americans were rent into fragments ; the 
small Southern band divided among themselves; 
while the great Northern American party, hav¬ 
ing a majority of the whole House, combined in 
solid, uncompromising phalanx, upon a red-hot 
Abolitionist for Speaker. The Democrats 
united upon a North-Western National Demo¬ 
crat, and for some two months closely and firm¬ 
ly maintained their position with Spartan hero¬ 
ism. At length, patriotism prevailed over 
Southern Americans and National Democrats, 
and foregoing party preferences, they united in 
opposition to the factious Abolitionists who 
sought at all hazards, to place Banks in the 
Speaker’s chair. Who does not know the re¬ 
sult ? Who does not remember the shame and 
confusion, and mortification, with which our 
Know-Nothing friends hung their heads when 
it was announced that Banks was Speaker ?— 
Who does not remember the bitter curses upon 
Davis, of Maryland, and Cullen, of Delaware, 
for throwing away their votes, and indirectly 
aiding in the result ? Having triumphed in 
the election of Speaker, and in breaking down 
the 12th Section at Philadelphia, it could scarce¬ 
ly be expected that the Northern Americans 
would desert their Republican allies, and trust 
to any hope of co-operation with Southern 
Americans, who had, in the election of Speaker, 
openly preferred alliance with the Democrats. 
The party who had elected Banks, Speaker, 
called itself Republican. It had, by an exclu¬ 
sively sectional vote, elected a most obnoxious 
Abolition Speaker. They now resolved to strike 
for the Presidency—and they have nominated 
Fremont as their candidate. The Anti-Fillmore 
Americans met and nominated Speaker Banks 
for President. He declined, and they have 
united with the Black Republicans upon Fre¬ 
mont. The Democrats have nominated Mr. 
Buchanan, a distinguished statesman, of large 
experience in public affairs, of unsullied per¬ 
sonal character, and though a citizen of a free 
State, he has, all his life, amidst the storms of 
Abolitionism, stood with heroic firmness upon 
the guarantees of the Constitution, in defence of 


Southern rights. 

With these well-known facts staring us in the 
face—with the Republican and American par¬ 
ties in the North rallying upon Fremont, with 
the avowed purpose of a relentless war upon 
Southern rights, what did we see and hear ?— 
Mr. Jones said, accustomed as he was, to the j 
perversions of partizans and newspapers, he was j 
amazed at the hardihood of assertion iu those i 
who were denouncing the Democratic party as re¬ 
sponsible for the sectional strife, and the slavery i 
agitation, which now, more than ever, threaten I 
the stability of our Union and Constitution. As 
a Whig, who in former days had been their i 
frank and steadfast opponent, he would asser- 
that impartial history will pronounce this imput 
tation an unfounded slander upon the Deino- 
ciatic party. He exceedingly regretted to see 
that so eminent a statesman, and so excellent a 
man as Mr. Fillmore, should, in a moment of 
forgetfullness and excitement, have given counte¬ 
nance to this imputation in his speech at Albany. 
He then spoke of the responsibility of those who 
“ re-opened the Slavery agitation.” At what pe¬ 
riod, said Mr. Jones, since the formation of the 
N. E. Anti-Slavery Society, about 1831, has the 
question been closed, or has its agitation ceased? 
Mr. Fillmore’s advocates say that the Compro¬ 
mise measures of 1850 restored peace and quiet 
to the country upon this question. Are they 
oblivious of facts so recent in the history of the 
country? Do they not know that it required all 
the combined influence, talents and energy of all 
the National Whigs and Democrats, in both 
Houses of Congress, to pass the Compromise 
measures? That Clay and Cass, Webster and 
Douglas, and other Whigs and Democrats, uni¬ 
ted to save the country in that terrible crisis. 
That Mr. Clay’s bill for the admission of Califor¬ 
nia, adjusting the boundary of Texas, and organ¬ 
izing the Territories of New Mexico and Utah, 
was defeated ; and that, when separate bills for 
these objects had been passed, and the Fugitive 
Slave bill had passed, the powerful and talented 
opposition, so far from acquiescing in those mea¬ 
sures, as a final settlement, openly appealed to 
the anti-slavery feelings of the North and West, 
and avowed their determination to “ agitate” for 
the repeal of the Fugitive Slave law, and to ex¬ 
clude slavery from all the Territories of the 
Union. Was not the attempt to execute .the 
Fugitive Slave law, everywhere in the North, re¬ 
sisted even unto blood, by anti-slavery mobs? 
If peace and quiet were restored, and those mea¬ 
sures acquiesced in by the country, why was not 
Mr. Fillmore or Mr. Webster nominated for the 
Presidency in 1852 ? Such was the excitement 
against Mr. Fillmore for signing the Fugitive 
Slave bill, that all his own great talents and 
faithful efforts to serve his whole country, with 






15 


Mr. Clay’s endorsment and influence to aid him, 
were unavailing in the Whig convention. Gen. 
Scott was nominated under the influence of the 
free soil, anti-slavery excitement among North¬ 
ern Whigs. The conservative spirit of the coun¬ 
try was aroused, the Whig candidate was dis¬ 
trusted, and the Democratic party achieved an 
overwhelming triumph. This, so far from quiet¬ 
ing the angry spirit of Anti-Slavery, but in¬ 
creased its rage. Who does not remember the 
terrible effects of an armed mob in the city of 
Boston to prevent the execution of the Fugitive 
Slave law upon the negro Burns, and the politi¬ 
cal revolutions that followed, sweeping the Dem¬ 
ocratic party from power in the northern States ? 
It is true, the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill added fuel to the flame, but did not kindle 
it. It was used by the agitators in the North to 
increase the excitement, which had been con¬ 
stantly growing since the defeat of the Wilmot 
proviso, and the passage of the Fugitive Slave 
law. 

But it is said the repeal of the Missouri Com¬ 
promise line brought the present troubles on the 
country. Mr. Jones went on to show that, in 
1850, when it was proposed to extend this line 
West, so as to make it the boundary of Utah, 
that Seward, Hale, and the Free so:l party in 
Congress, denounced the line; would not, even 
by implication, admit that it had any binding 
effect; avowed that it should not stand, but that 
slavery should be forever excluded from all the 
Territories, South as well as North of that line. 
That when Congress came to organize Territorial 
governments for Kansas and Nebraska, the ques¬ 
tion was, whether the National Whigs and Dem¬ 
ocrats, who believed that there was no constitu¬ 
tional obligation to abide by that line, (which 
was but the application of the Wilmot Proviso 
to all the territory North of 36° 30') should 
stand quietly by and see Kansas settled exclu¬ 
sively by Free Soilers, and add another to the 
free States, to be followed by Nebraska as a free 
State, by which time the power to protect them¬ 
selves and their rights under the constitution 
would forever have been taken away from the 
slave States; or whether, whilst they had the 
power, they should assert their constitutional 
rights to an equal share of the public domain, 
leaving the question of slavery, as a domestic in¬ 
stitution, to be settled by the people of the Ter¬ 
ritory, when they came to form a State constitu¬ 
tion. In adopting the latter alternative, they 
followed the example of the Congress of 1850, in 
the Utrh and New Mexico Territorial bills, and 
erected the Territores of Kansas aud Nebraska. 
without the Wilmot Proviso. This, like the Fu¬ 
gitive Slave law, and the defeat of the 
Wilmot Proviso in 1850, has been made the oc¬ 
casion of increased r^ge .and fury among the 


Free Soilers, and afforded a convenient oppor¬ 
tunity for Northern politicians, who thought 
they saw coming triumph for Free Soilism, to 
join its ranks. But can Southern Whigs and' 
men in the North, claiming to be friends of the 
South, join in this Free Soil crusade against the 
Democratic party ? 

Mr. Jones theu proceeded to express his opin¬ 
ions upon the Presidential contest:—that Fre¬ 
mont was the candidate of this Free Soil party 
in the non-slave holding States, and that to de¬ 
feat him might require the united efforts of all 
National men, Whigs, Democrats and Ameri¬ 
cans. That from the distracted state of Mr. 
Fillmore’s party in the Northern States, and the 
large secession from it to Fremont’s support, it 
was questionable whether Mr. Fillmore could so 
divide the vote in any Northern State as to de¬ 
feat the Free Soil electors in such State. That 
if Mr. Fillmore was supported in the North by 
a portion of the conservative National men, to 
that extent, he would divide the vote that ought 
to be united upon one candidate against the Ab¬ 
olitionists and Free Soilers. That Mr. Buchan- j 
an is supported by a party, which, in a conven¬ 
tion of six hundred delegates from every State 
in the Union, unanimously planted themselves 
upon the Constitutional guarenties of Southern 
rights. They have risked their existence as a 
political party in defence of our property, our 
rights, the Constitution and the Union. That 
it was amazing to him, with this prospect before 
us, that Southern Whigs, or any Southern man, 
should hazard the loss of a slave State to Mr. 
Buchanan by voting for Mr. Fillmore. That 
this was no time to indulge personal preferences, 
or party animosityor to revive the feuds of 
other days. That the question is one of self- 
preservation against all the probable horrors of 
disunion, anarchy, and civil war—to end, God 
knows where! That he had a high personal 
regard for Mr. Fillmore, and admitting, that in 
talents, statesmanship, and patriotism, and even 
upon the question of Southern rights, he may 
be all his most ardent admirers claim for him, 
Mr. Buchanan, is at least, his equal in these re¬ 
spects, and is sustained by a party which is in 
the majority in nearly all if not all the slave 
States. Shall Southern men, in such a crisis, 
seek to distract and defeat the only party in the 
country which, in his judgment, affords the 
slightest hope or prospect of defeat to this dan¬ 
gerous, sectional Free Soil party of the North ? 

But it was said Mr. Fillmore had denounced 
the Sectional Free Soil party in his speech at 
Albany, and had proclaimed that if it should 
elect its candidate to the Presidency, the South 
would not, and ought not to submit. Let no 
man be deluded by such a threat. If Fremont 
shall be elected President according to the forms 








16 


of the Constitution, either by obtaining the 
u'nited vote of the free States in the Electoral 
Colleges, or by a majority of the States, in the 
House of Representatives, if there is no election 
by the people—he will be entitled to take the 
I Presidential office ; to grasp the sword of the 
/ army, and the flag of the navy; and to exercise 
all the great powers vested by law in that high 
/ office. Overt acts of armed resistance to his 
lawful authority, if unsuccessful would be 
treason. Successful resistance, would be revolu¬ 
tion, disunion, and all the horrors of anarchy. 

Mr. Jones then adverted to the theory of 
those Whigs and Americans who proposed to 
vote for Mr. Fillmore in the slave States, in the 
hope, that by giving him the vote of two or 
three slave States, the election may be carried 
into the House of Representatives, where, hav¬ 
ing four States in his favor, and holding thus 
the balance of power, they would compel the 
Democrats or Republicans, to take Fillmore, or 
have no election. Did gentlemen forget that 
the same House of Representatives that elected 
Banks Speaker, will have the election of Presi¬ 
dent ? Are they sure that Fremont, with four¬ 
teen States, may not find means to secure two 
more ? Does any dream that the Free Soilers 
in Congress, will, in any event, vote for Mr. 
Fillmore, or for Mr. Buchanan ? They will ad¬ 
here to Mr. Fremont as they did to Banks—and 
Southern men may find, as they found in the 
election of Speaker, that the attempted union 
of Southern Americans and Democrats in Con¬ 
gress, may come too late to defeat the Free Soil 
party. Let them remember, that in a possibie 
contingency, Speaker Banks, even before the 
Presidential election, may become President, 
commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and 
surrounded with an army of Free Soil office 
holders. 

Mr. Jones said, if the election should go to 
the House of Representatives, the probability 
was, there would be no election by the House. 


He considered it as certain as any future politi¬ 
cal event could be, that John C. Breckinridge 
would be elected Vice-President, and in case of 
no election by the House before the fourth of 
March next, 'Breckinridge, by the Constitution, 
will become President. Pie was a noble son of 
Kentucky, a man of high order of intellect, a 
statesman of eminent ability, and though young, 
he would make a safe and able President. Mr. 
Jones said he would support Buchanan and 
Breckinridge upon the platform of their senti¬ 
ments, as contained in their letters of accept¬ 
ance, and upon the practical and real issues in¬ 
volved in this contest, which he conceived to be 
defence of Southern rights against the purposes 
of the Free Soilers, and defence of the rights of 
conscience in religious belief, and of the Con¬ 
stitutional rights of our naturalized citizens 
against the purposes of the American party. 

Proscription of any class of our American 
citizens, on account of their religious creed, or 
place of birth, is illegal and unjnst, and at war 
with the avowed doctrines and policy of Mary¬ 
land Whigs for all past time, and especially for 
the last sixteen years. He remained firm by the 
doctrines of the Whig Central Committee of 
1840, re-affirmed by a convention of Whigs in 
Baltimore in April, 1856. 

In this hour of trial, in her exposed condition 
as a frontier slave State, bounded by Mason and 
and Dixon’s line, Maryland, needs the united 
aid of all her citizens, Protestant, Roman Catho¬ 
lic ' ad naturalized, to protect her property, her 
pe^e, and all that she holds most sacred and 
dear—the Constitution and the Union 1 Let 
her be warned by the past, and trust nothing to 
the House of Repi'esentatives . Let her citizens 
see to it, that by uniting at the ballot-box with 
her Southern sisters, and with the National 
Democrats and Whigs, and conservative men of 
the North and the West, they elect Buchanan 
and Breckinridge by the voice of the people. 


PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE STANDARD, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


l 













v*cr 


' < 1 ? c\ 

* o H 0 4*?> °r^, 

*+ > V * * • °* cv 

' ♦> *♦ .vwv* V ^ 1 . 



safgt o * '<■ r^* $* h %*•••’• 

>* ^ .\J49KSt. .•?- ^f. ^ 

* t 


♦ <0^ A <A *0 ***** A 

C° % °o A 'LjrtaZ* + C u fti ‘ — 1 

^ °*J» -of .«a’« 


» A*l 


^ >$. . 


°o 


’’bt? 

k. 0r £ 


'’oV* 


\ 0 ^ A O* «f5? 

^ * ^yy/IUd*± r\ * ^^UYvvos* H N v o *• ^yy/jP^e + _0 ^*, * ^ 

<V^7>\* 0 ' - V'*^'A . V^*V , %* 

:. ** a* .ygfe'. ^ ^ .’aVa* % / ^ 

&*. »JP||.; W ^ refill- 


j- 0 ^ 



O M 0 


sV ^ o 

l/ O 


** A <A '°.* w at 

A . *'•* ^ -CT a^V* T C> 

.ML^.. */.,A ; 



^o A . V • * „ <£. 

*?•» <*&■ t * - -r 




0 ^ ^ 

“v''*^' y r % A \ * * 7 " 

m, z %«? ’«%t **> ° .^Sl,: v^ ;M$Wa* ^ 

v^ * vP_ j o *VA t^/z/Ar^v^ «> -> o aV^ 



«$» <y 1 

V^ v 

* A •» 

* Ay *^rv # _. —j.. _ 

*• A .. % "*‘«?> 

C° .^«W. °o > ♦• 

^ a' A : ^:\!!x 4 * *yt_ A ** 


* «v V. -, w ,' 

-!'^ ... A ^• ‘‘ ^ 

UL A 0 0 * O 

.-4 


A V -V • 

* V ■$• * 

’ - a ■-r. 1 :*' .o’ 

•* ^ c° *i^> # °o a* ** 
\ 0 ^ ^A 






^ ~syy/y//ii 'w •» i> «* w w ^ v-" «» . ,yyy//!\\ 'y>‘ > ?> <i» t 

*■ < pO / //)\)&f j> « */. ^'VvUvvvor' ' \ > * t^yy/iiSn * /~\ •»> 

.wf o / \. : ^-' A V'*. 

o a.v ♦ • * * % V f * * o„ *0 

\A *^K; %A ^ ^ 

* A v 


<*> "o , k - j\ 

‘"% \ c° • 
«-o< ' 


V A 

t7> A > 





_ - ,. NVX _ * & 

- v* V % *!• 

^ ^ •- 

A ^ - 

vVJ . , A 

?** ^ '^fT 1 ^ 

i .... •>•„ * * ,g s 

0° /^ut. ^ .4* .; 



1 '•- ^ -0 V 6° 



^ o' • 

’. 0 < • 

° j5^ ^ 

•- c\ < 0 V %> V % •»*•- c\ 

• ; yjKy*- \A y^m* * 

* . 4? ^ . °'>^^^* .^v 1 ^ -i 



V 


* 4 



^ *'° * ► * aG 

■<3A Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procr 

Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Mav 2010 


MCUii aiiA.il ly ayvi u. muyi i«« 

o Treatment Date: May 2010 

o A q^ l PreservationTechnologi 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVA1 

111 Thomson Park Drive 


111 Thomson Park Drive 

•. o, #’.m*. ^ v v f 7 "r ippA,6 “ 6 

l 'h.° ^ .& *^feT* ^ .<& ' k(\W /k° '•Vr> sr »».'«/'»• 




£ 0 0 

v ♦ U .\%r % ^ V 

^ « 0 

_ imwv ^ , Jo. 

!■••. •> V ' v .% V*^V “V' 

r^jL <t ^ ^ <£, 

J f* &X"'"/a>*.>‘W<^v' 




*bV 



o V 




« aV»\ 

► aV 'X j 





v^ 7 °„, V‘^‘>" V*^SV \“' : * 

A*' . \ImTIk > \> ♦'••O, <S> 4 0 ~ .•’ V. 

• V* :Vife': %-/ .'ftfe. \/ *♦< 

* ^ °. V 

« V #, ‘VWrv^v v ..... v*”“ 0 * &> . 

* %4> A ' <vV0AV%* aN * ffnlTfeC - ^P”. 0 • jf 

: ^ ? 3 |-. v :£m£*\ +*# s£ 

' $ * '^Wwi ^aKisF.* £°* -«S 

•<> '•■•* ^ \ -.!%• J' o o \*3 

v *»•<>.. c\ .<y ,•••'■* *> ** *V «£. 

tp ^ *. •*- - —' w * 


•■•'/ % - 
v v V * T # °<* C' 






,* i 0 -^ : 

> ^ ♦ a <£• <> 'V^1\V^»> * k'' ”' «■ C 

< '*'‘ , * % f° ^ ** O w o °\V 2 ' *0, 




; •* 
A V ^. *o 




>* ^° ^ *• 

i*sv- *.* O * A ‘, ^ ^ 

* f i * A ^ ^ * * ( 

0 * % 


° * 


AV « 

. __.....: X** : 

/? ' s ' r , 

* 

.TTT*- A ■<.■'?.:•' .&«• ^ -, 

.V .‘l^L*. ^ c 0 .‘J^*. \ ,^'..‘J*. v. 

S v :mm?: .**HfM* :&mzs*\ Xj ' 

5- ^. *.@l^»* \ 



. . . vv - 4 \ v °^ f 0 * 1 °o ► 

fe-^ . v ,;4*'. V d* *•;&:. X V s ,.--. *« 

$ vP VS^!ri^<7 * \ x * 4c<%rTt^si • T> , ^ 




V • T • • 

%/ i 

. ;«§V ^ 

0°^ .‘J4*% °o ,/ ..* 

* ^ « ' ^\\rrV' j * 

* •‘‘^Sb* ; 

« , «5 ^ $p vj, • 

o. *iv, •• .o ; ^ _„ 

o 


i&X ^ v '!^w;-. V ’ 
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































